Gonna Set your Soul on Fire
by fAteD lOvE
Summary: Charah. Chuck Bartowski and Sarah Walker are completely innocent civilians with no connection to the espionage factions of the world. Even so, can one escape their destiny?
1. Chapter 1

Just wanted to get this single chapter out to see the level of interest in this premise. Wrote a few months ago, I've got an overarching plot so far, but only a few random chapters written.

Chuck and Sarah have no ties to the CIA or the Intersect. Sarah hasn't ever joined the CIA and Chuck hasn't been implanted with the Intersect…yet. They're just innocent civilians, for now *evil calculating grin*

I tried to find a song to match my story, I'm settling on **Renegade Fighter** by **Zed** for now to keep my focus on the tone of my writing. The lyrics may not be overly romantic, but I really think it does match the Charah relationship :) I'll put the full lyrics up next chapter. The chorus is real catchy.

_I'm a lover  
I'm a sinner  
I'm a fighter  
gonna set your soul on fire.  
I'm a lover I'm a renegade fighter  
come and set your soul on fire._

It helps that when I googled it, b/c I had the song in itunes, that I saw it was from NZ. We're a country of proud people, so I'm thrilled that such an awesome song's from us :) That confirmed for me that it was perfect for the fic.

Disclaimer: Not sure if there's gonna be anything TO own soon, but hopefully NBC will realise Chuck's valuable enough to continue :)

* * *

**Gonna Set your Soul on Fire**

"I'll look after you."

---

_Charles Irving Bartowski _

_&_

_Sarah Lisa Walker _

_cordially invite you to their wedding on _

_August the 12th,_

_2006 _

-

"It's perfect!"

Ellie grinned and waved the rich cream coloured card around, "You're right Sarah, the heavier card does feel nicer to the touch."

Chuck yawned loudly.

Ignoring him sprawled on the couch behind her, Sarah tapped her pen on her chin.

"So now we just have to decide whether to go for the gold embossing, or plain black ink." She paused, "Personally, I like the charcoal black, and the gold borders and trimming... what do you think, Chuck?"

Peering over her shoulder, Chuck nestled his cold nose into her exposed shoulder, and she instinctively raised her shoulder, accidentally jostling him.

The women keep their eyes on the various papers and colours laid out on the coffee table in front of them, and wait for his verdict.

It doesn't come.

Sarah giggled a bit suddenly when a tickling sensation spreads over her neck, and Ellie rolled her eyes when she glances up to see the disturbance.

"Chuck."

Ellie tapped her finger on the table, and Sarah's too caught up in her fiance to be annoyed at his interruption of a very important choice.

"Chuck!"

His head jerked up from his amorous exploration of Sarah's neck and focused on Ellie, giving her a innocent beam.

Sarah pulled herself together again and fixed Chuck with a mock serious glare.

"Hey sis," He said casually, his hand appears over Sarah's shoulder after climbing the back, "What's up?"

Ellie watched as he propped his chin beside Sarah's head, giving her a kiss to the cheek.

Sighing, she fingered the filled notepad in front of her, "Your honeymoon's a few months away," She pinned him with an evil look, "If you want to get there, you'd better sort out your wedding first."

Sarah moved as if to push his head off her, but her fingers decide otherwise and thread themselves familiarly into his curls as if the two were magnetically attracted. "Yeah Chuck," She flirted, "Don't you wanna marry me?"

While Sarah and Chuck engross themselves in each other again, Ellie laughed, breaking them apart. "Sarah! You're just as bad as he is." She smiled widely at them, a proud glint in her eye as she watched her beloved brother interact with his future wife. She couldn't be prouder of both of them.

Sarah just beamed at Ellie, her smile matching Chuck's radiance in full. They were truly matched. Even to the smile.

--

--

_**Stanford. 2003.**_

_**-  
**_

Chuck curls into a tighter ball as he leaned back against a thick tree trunk in the brush.

The sound of twigs snapping underfoot two pairs of stumbling feet were in the distance, but Chuck was much too gloomy to pay attention.

Why would he?

His life had officially ended before it started. He just got kicked out of a prestigious school an hour ago. Betrayed by his best friend who was the one who had falsely turned him in, then made a beeline for his cute girlfriend of three years and rubbed it in by sleeping with her the day he left.

Chuck couldn't help but to understand why people committed suicide.

His life had been looking so promising, top of his classes, a soon-to-be-fiance, an equally successful and loyal best friend, teacher support, and a wonderful sister.

Resting his head in the cradle his arms made, propped on his knees, he breathes in deeply. It had all happened so fast he wasn't sure whether he was in a dream or reality. Though- it could also be a nightmare.

Ellie would surely freak out and storm back up to the campus all the way from LA as soon as he told her.

Thinking about this whole mess made his head hurt, and he was feeling sorry for himself.

He had had the whole world in his grip,

now his hands were empty-

"Holy mother of- !"

A female voice shrieked as she fell onto Chuck, his arms suddenly full of a lithe, soft body.

Another body falls next to them, holding onto the woman's hand.

Chuck just stares in alarm at the deep laughs that rumbled from the muscular man and the shaking body in his arms as she giggles.

"Um-"

The woman turned to look at Chuck at the clearing of his throat.

Examining his features, she grins, "Well _hello_ handsome!" She flicks a stray piece of hair from his forehead, "How you doin'?"

Her own long copper hair sways in his face, and he catches a whiff of flowery shampoo.

"Hey!" The male yells, "Quit stealing my girl!"

Chuck starts spluttering in nervousness before both of the intruders starts laughing again.

"Sorry," The woman says, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes, and the male stands, brushing himself off before pulling the woman up after him and offers Chuck an apologetic glance, "we stumbled on your little patch of forest, we'll just be going now."

Before the male could whisk her away, she calls back over her shoulder, "Name's Carina by the way!" She waves at him, "If a nerdy looking blondie falls into here, kindly direct her in the opposite direction, will you? My little sister can be a pain in the ass. She's like my mother!"

Without further ado, they prance off into another clump of bushes to find privacy, and Chuck's left with shaking his head.

True to her word, a few minutes later, the trees rustle again and Chuck, alert, flicks his eyes towards the sound, glumly anticipating another falling body.

But this time, there's a tripping one, who rights herself clumsily against a branch before looking up.

When Chuck meets her blue eyed gaze: ...all glasses and frizzy blond geek in all her glory-

-He thinks she's the most beautiful girl he's _ever_ seen in his life.

--

--

She sits with her knees pressed against her chest, cheek lying against the top of her legs.

"So what are you gonna do now?"

Chuck sighs, leaning his head against the tree trunk.

"I dunno," He replies glumly, shrugging and grinning weakly at her.

She shuffles closer, and shyly meets his gaze. "Chuck?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you something?"

"Yeah."

"I think you could do anything you wanted to."

There was a beat before he raised his head, looking at her closely, and with curiosity.

His voice is quiet, but doesn't doubt anything she says, "How do you know?"

She just smiles mysteriously.

To lighten the atmosphere she adds, "You went to Stanford after all."

At the mention of Stanford he deflates again.

"What?" She asks, disappointed at his sudden withdrawal.

"Stanford." He pronounces with disgust as if the one word explained everything.

To divert the conversation from going down a sore topic, he plasters a fake smile onto his face, but it looks like he's about to cry to her perspective.

"Let's get outta here." He says, and she hears what he says underneath that tone, _'Let's get out of Stanford's bush'_.

He brushes himself off and offers her a hand, pulling her up easily.

A sudden horrifying thought strikes him. "What's your name?" He asks with trepidation. He'd been talking with a complete stranger!

"_Sarah Walker_."

--

--

"Sarah, " Jack says, rolling his eyes, "Sweetie, wouldja go tell your sister to stop having sex with that Casey boy and come down to dinner?"

Chuck watches with amusement as she colours up, excusing herself quietly and running upstairs.

He was surprised at her sudden personality shift to a shy, quiet girl in front of her family.

"So Schnook," Jack starts, Chuck would've grimaced, but decides that wouldn't look too good.

Jack had started calling him that ever since Sarah had pulled him through the door to her house.

Chuck had introduced himself, and Jack had reciprocated, but even after, he'd been referred to as the 'schnook'.

Jack leans forward on the breakfast table, peering at him intently.

Chuck squirms, smiling and half frightened with no Sarah to back him up.

"Have you been seducing my daughter?"

Chuck almost jumps a foot into the air, "_No_ sir! We just met today-"

"Do you have some separate agenda?"

"No, I want-"

"Is anyone else behind your little plan?"

"Sir, there isn't a pl-"

"I know what you're up to, Bartowski," Jack says under his breath, beady eyes fixed on him, "I'll be watching you…"

It was a good thing the stamping started down the stairs, as he didn't have a reply to the rather paranoid man.

"Move, "The burly John Casey snarls, pushing Chuck out of his chair and seating himself, then leaning back casually and he reaches out to pull out a chair next to him for Carina.

Chuck looks up with wide eyed, ground shock flashing up his rear end.

"Hey!" Sarah says loudly, out of character. With a glare at her older sister and her boyfriend, she bends down to help Chuck gently to his feet.

With a smile, she puts him in a chair before sitting in the vacant seat beside him.

"Don't worry, I'll look after you."

* * *

Not sure about the dates yet, there's quite a lot going on in the chapter, hope I'll have enough to elaborate on later…

By the way, vote for your fav story or author here: .net/forum/TWoP_Kicked_Us_Out_But_We_Still_Love_Chuck/49974/

OMG, I think I just found the perfect song for _We'll Be Chuck and _Sarah! It's Natasha Bedingfield's _Love Like This_ :D

Reviews make me happy...and strangely productive...


	2. The Chuck Door

Just had some fun here for character building before we dive into the serious stuff :)

Hey by the way, vote for your favourite stories here: .net/forum/TWoP_Kicked_Us_Out_But_We_Still_Love_Chuck/49974/

Thanks Myst, for the idea. You know which one. I don't wanna give it away for the others before they read the chapter.

Disclaimer: *whistles random song off-tune*

* * *

**Gonna Set your Soul on Fire**

---

CHAPTER TWO

_The Chuck Door. _

--

Nothing eventful happened at dinner.

Unless you counted the part where Chuck had nearly choked on his food when Jack said blithely-

"Carina dear, go wash your hands, you don't know where that boy's been. Besides _him_, who knows..." Jack stopped, trying to phrase it as nicely as possible, "...whatever you've touched today."

Then Chuck had turned pale when John turned a nasty glare at him, cracking his knuckles on his Christmas-ham-sized hands, face colouring into a disturbing shade of dark puce.

Sarah had just tried to stifle her laughter, shoulders twitching with her effort.

"Hey Chuck."

Smiling nervously, Sarah clasped her hands together.

Ignoring the other two teenagers washing the dishes, she turned to gaze up at him.

"Do you want to see my room?"

Chuck shifted on his feet, a wide beam eclipsing his face.

"Y-"

A morbid hack came from the table.

Jack ruffled the newspaper loudly, looking innocent.

Chuck lowered his voice even more.

"Um, okay-"

A cough.

"I think-"

A loud slurping from Jack draining his coffee.

Sarah looked over Chuck's shoulder to look suspiciously at her father.

"I'm busy. Really should go," Chuck said nervously.

Jack stood, grinning, he shook Chuck's hand.

"Nice to meet you too, sir." Chuck said, trying to move around the man to say goodbye to Sarah.

"Chuck! Do you have any where to stay tonight?" Sarah asked over Jack's goodbyes.

Unceremoniously pushed out onto the doorstep, Chuck stumbled before clutching the banister.

"Of course he does!" Jack boomed, "Kids like this have plenty of girls to corrupt. If you want to make your quota for tonight, you'd better be off then!"

"Sarah-"

The door closed with a muffled thump of damp wood.

--

--

"Ellie?" Chuck called into the phone while he hopped on the spot. Temperatures were chilly at night, and he wrapped his coat further around himself.

"Come on," He muttered, shaking the clunky object, "Pick up, pick up, pick up..."

His sister was probably distracted by that stupid Devon guy who'd materialised one day at the Bartowski home.

"Chuck!"

He looked around confused. That wasn't his sister's voice. Plus there was still a ringing tone on the other side of the line.

"Chuck!"

Looking confused, he froze on the spot. Creepy.

"Up here!"

Tilting his head back quickly, he heard a horrible crack.

"Ouch."

But his new view enabled him to see one Sarah Walker hanging out of a white paint-cracked window on the second floor of her house, hands propped on the tiled roof to keep her balance.

"Sarah?"

She smiled at him, gesturing him closer.

Chuck just looked at her, then at the tree she was pointing to.

Oh no.

No no nononononono.

Chuck Bartowski did not climb trees.

Her impatient hiss took him to the trunk.

"Oh please, higher power. Help me."

His legs awkwardly tangled into the branches, and he tugged at his clothes to free himself from the pesky twigs as he tentatively made his way up, sweaty hands locked in a death grip around a thick branch.

Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look-

"Chuck."

With a pout, Chuck turned his attention to Sarah, hands on her hips, a irritated but amused look on her face.

"You're one branch up from the ground, Chuck."

oh.

Laughing to brush it off, Chuck just lowered his feet to the ground, able to just stand up from his position.

"I know."

Shrugging, he continued. "I was just joking."

"Well," She said patronizingly, "I'm NOT joking when I say you're gonna have to sleep outside in the cold if you don't hurry up."

That was enough incentive for Chuck.

Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Chuck grasped onto the windowsill tightly like a lifeline as he pulled his feet one at a time from the last branch, the highest point in the tree. He had successfully made it up three meters.

"Oh Rapunzel, Rapunzel," He intoned tiredly, rolling his eyes.

Her warm hands wrapped under his arms and around his back as she tried to pull him into the room.

"Ooof!"

Chuck couldn't be bothered raising his head from the carpet, the rough texture was oddly pleasant. Ah, exfoliation.

Living with a sister had instilled him with a knowledge of personal care, and he was not ashamed to say that it helped him gain a new perspective on women.

"Ouch."

He felt her kneeling next to him.

"Isn't your dad going to kill you if he finds me here?" He mumbled.

Sarah laughed quietly, hand on his head.

"Well," She said defiantly, "He won't _find_ out."

"Carina's always allowed to have her horrid boyfriend over," She added as an afterthought. Going pink, she rushed to cover up her last sentence, "Although that's not what I-"

Lost for words, she just looked plain embarrassed.

"Well thank you." Chuck said gently, flopping around to face upwards so he could see her. "Just hide me in the cupboard. I'll be your secret."

After a long, awkward pause, he amended sheepishly. "Um. Not in _that_ way..."

Oh dear.

This was uncomfortable.

--

--

It was squished. Yes, that it was.

Her shoulder and hip pressed against his as they sat in utter darkness, the cupboard door slid shut in front of them, their backs to the wall. It was strangely intimate, and private. But comfortable.

Suddenly Sarah spoke.

"Don't be surprised by odd noises."

He furrowed his brow. What an odd topic of conversation to start on.

"What?"

She drew in a breath. "You know. Carina. Don't be bothered. It always happens."

"Oh?"

_Oh_.

"-Oh."

"Yeah."

"Right."

Pressing his eyes shut tightly after Sarah didn't respond to his last word, Chuck just willed himself to block it out. The wall was just too thin.

Oh god.

_Stupid plaster wall_.

A warm feeling cascaded through his stomach as he tried to keep quiet. But his chest felt as if it were about to explode and he couldn't help the huge grin that stretched his lips from one side of his face to the other.

_Don't smile. Just don't smile. You don't want to be seen as a pervert or anything. This is not the occasion to smile._

To his utter mortification, Chuck snorted. And after that, there was no stopping the chortles that escaped his throat.

"Pffff..." _Be quiet, Chuck_, he admonished himself, "Ha. Ha..."

For some reason, even in the blackness, Chuck could see the blue glint of Sarah's crystal orbs, and once they locked eyes, the storm of giggles that erupted could not be stopped.

Chuck Bartowski had never been in such an awkward position before, but one thing he knew, was that it was hilarious, and he loved it.

* * *

This probably isn't a great follow up to my first chapter which I got an insane amount of reviews :) Thanks for that by the way- But I was sitting at the computer, and it just came out so I decided not to waste it and just post the damn thing!

Yeah yeah I know, the tenses are screwed up, don't remind me.

Anyway, hope you were entertained :)


	3. Change

Hi. A longer chapter this time, have fun :)

Disclaimer: mehmehmehmehmeh

* * *

**Gonna Set your Soul on Fire**

**---  
**

CHAPTER THREE

_Change_

--

"Sarah!" There was brief pounding on the door before another lull, "Rise and shine, _sunshine_. Daddy says up and at 'em!"

When there was no response, Carina huffs exasperatedly and impatiently knocks again.

"Hey Squirt!" She yells, "Don't make me come in there and find you hiding a guy!"

A pause.

Then she laughs to herself, "Yeah right."

From the inside, an audible grumble floats through the door, and it is swung wide open. Carina steps in, hands on her hips.

After she looks around at the undisturbed bed covers and pajamas lying folded on the pillow, she cocks her eyebrow curiously. Striding straight to the slightly ajar cupboard, she rolls her eyes.

The beam of light from behind her manages to pierce through the darkness inside, and she can see a sliver of pale skin illuminated.

"What are you doing in there?"

Sarah has a bewildered deer-in-the-headlights look on her face as she tries to shield her eyes from the bright sunlight streaming through the open window. Carina is unsympathetic, moving even more to let the beams past her body.

"Um," Sarah says with a pretentious smile, "Erm, it's warm...and it's cosy in here."

Narrowing her eyes, her sister points wordlessly to the pile of clothes beside her.

Sarah's smile widens to impossible dimensions, hoping Carina couldn't tell her hands were shaking with nervousness behind her back. "I accidentally knocked them down from the hangers when I came in here."

Thin eyebrows raised, Carina just shakes her head. "You are one odd child, Sarah."

Before Carina could continue her interrogation, a sound outside makes both of their eyes dart to the open door of her room.

Stumbling steps thump against the hardwood of the second floor where they are. They stop when a door creaks open.

"Good morning, sir." A deep, alert, voice greeted.

Carina smiles, completely ignoring Sarah and exiting the room.

Sarah deflates in relief behind her.

"John!" Jack Burton's voice resounds, "Morning, young man. Come down to breakfast...after you put a shirt on."

The bass rumble grunts in assent before there were diminishing footsteps down the stairs and another two pairs of feet heading back down the hall.

Sarah, after making sure there were no bystanders, pulls the cupboard door closed.

"Mffmph."

An apologetic look on her face, Sarah turns to the source of the noise and pulls the sweatshirt off Chuck's head.

"You smell nice," He says dreamily.

At Sarah's expression, Chuck amends hurriedly, "Like your clothes. You know- the smell of freshly laundered clothes!"

He pulled a t-shirt off the pile and held it to his nose, "See?" He sniffs, "Yum."

Shrugging her shoulders, Sarah just reaches out to tousle Chuck's hair. Chuck stays quiet as he waits patiently for her to excavate him further from the mountain of clothes.

"So," He says after she clears away the last article, "What happens now?"

Sarah looks as confused as he does. She shrugs her shoulders helplessly. "I didn't think that far."

Chuck taps his chin, "Well. Without my daily phone call back to my sister, she'll be pretty worried."

Leaning back on the wall opposite him, Sarah picks at the fluff on the knees of her pants, "Are you going to tell her about the Stanford incident?"

His finger raised, Chuck shakes his head sagely, making a tutting noise instead of answering.

"That incident will no longer be referred to the Stanford incident." With a long pause to think, he declares.

"It shall from this day forth be called the INCIDENT OF '03, with a capital 'I'. There must be a kind of '_dun dun dun_' or you know, some kind of... Star-Wars-Death-Star-approaching kind of quality that must be present in the voice while saying the aforementioned INCIDENT- A looming, dark, or menacing sound."

Frustrated with himself for not being able to communicate the particular 'tone' that needed to be used to speak those words, Chuck looks despondently at Sarah. His head sinking, his playful attitude disintegrates quickly.

"She's gonna kill me, Sarah."

Ellie had seemed like a decent big sister from what Chuck had described, and she couldn't imagine Ellie having anything but sympathy for him, and outright anger at Stanford.

"Come on Chuck, Ellie can't be that-"

He holds up a finger again.

"Uh uh Sarah, you haven't met her. I swear, when she finds out, she'll be like an unstoppable heat-seeking missile, a... she-hulk! A lioness protecting her cub! A government tearing, official demolishing, bullet train-"

"Shut up, Chuck."

He immediately falls dead silent.

With a smile, Sarah speaks, "Would it make you feel better if I went with you?"

Chuck's eyes widens as he gapes like a fish. "You'd...you'd do that for me?" His smile appears again.

"Yeah. I got nothing better to do while waiting for graduation," She remarks offhandedly.

Clapping his hands, Chuck smiles beautifully, eyes bright, not flinching a bit from the mention of graduations. "Okay! Um-" His face falls as he looks shyly at Sarah, "What about your dad?"

"What about him?"

"Won't he be mad? He doesn't like me very much.."

Sarah laughs, "No. He was being nice," She punches his shoulder playfully, "He nearly brought out the shotgun when Carina took John home for the first time."

Chuck's eyes were wide, and he tries to downplay his shock by cracking a weak joke.

"Maybe I just don't look like a threat?" He chuckles skittishly, "There's absolutely no need for firearms of any kind."

Sarah grinns. "It's okay. He won't. Plus, I like nice, non-threatening boys anyway."

--

--

An appreciative whistle nearly startled Chuck from his utmost concentration, and he hugs a sturdy branch to his chest in fright.

"So."

Chuck tries to look around the best he can , but that would mean giving up his desperate hold onto safety. He didn't want to give Ellie an excuse to go all intern-doctor on him.

A dark shape at his peripheral vision catches his attention again, and twisting his neck painfully, he's met with the intimidating bulk of John Casey.

"John?"

The older man growls, and with ridiculously light footsteps, he walks gracefully from branch to branch with perfect balance as if he weighed nothing less than a feather until he stands in front of Chuck.

Shoving his face close to Chuck's, his ice blue eyes narrows.

"It's Casey to you."

Then as if he had bipolar disease, his mood changes quickly with his next line.

Firmly thumping Chuck on the back (who winced), he laughs.

"What a bull, you lanky geek! Managed to get little Sarah laid, did you?" At Chuck's pale face and glowing red cheeks, he snorts. "Didn't think you had it in you at first, runt."

Chuck's hands went slack for a moment, and he hopes fervently that Mr Burton did not crack open a window just as Casey had said that.

_I don't like shotguns._

He tries to laugh along with Casey, but nothing comes out except a half strangled hiccup.

Still chuckling, Carina's boyfriend continues his easy descent out of the tree, leaving Chuck to cling onto his position.

"Help?"

--

--

"_Chuck_?"

The hissed whisper comes from behind him, and Chuck maneuvers his limbs to face the sound.

Sarah peers closer at the clump of bush from the side of the road.

"It's okay," She said, smiling. For a moment Chuck is just entranced with the way the sun highlights the glinting parts of her hair.

"-My dad's out right now."

Two hands come searching in the leaves for him, and quickly, Chuck stands to avoid any accidental grazing of any kind.

Sarah takes a step back with his proximity, surprised at his sudden appearance. Taking his hand casually and skipping a bit as they walked down the sidewalk, she asks him, "Are you ready?"

Trembling with nerves, Chuck just manages to nod.

"Yeah."

He thinks the shock hasn't quite worn off, and he attributes this to the reason why he hasn't blubbered like a girl yet about the whole INCIDENT OF '03 and the loss of his girlfriend to his best friend.

Plus, meeting Sarah's whole family was an adventure on it's own. It diluted the powerful emotions of the event at least temporarily. Maybe when he finally saw Ellie, it would hit home and he'd finally express the tumultuous feelings bottled up inside his chest, the cork screwed in tightly.

Like either a stupid romantic comedy or a horror movie, it starts raining just as Chuck works to squeeze both him and Sarah into the phone booth. When he tries to cram himself in, Sarah shrinks further into the box to allow him more space. She takes his hand and pulls him in. Edging tentatively inside, Chuck tries to avoid any bodily contact, awkwardly trying to close the door behind him with his left hand.

He really needed a new phone. The stupid thing died on him, and the charger was still with his personal belongings sitting in a box somewhere in Stanford waiting for him to take the vestiges of his perfect dream life back home.

It's lucky Sarah is so small, because they both barely fit in the cubicle, with merely his arm stuck awkwardly out of the partly closed door. The glass is freezing against his denim-clad ass, but the air is warming between them, and his cheeks are starting to burn.

Sarah picks up the plastic communication device from its cradle and hands it to him.

Taking it, his fingers slip a little from the sweat on his skin and he laughs shyly as he fumbles while the contact with the object in his grasp makes a horrible little squelching noise.

Chuck sticks his tongue between his teeth as he holds the phone under his arm, at the same time using the same limb to reach into his pocket, leg pressed against the wall of the booth.

His knuckles crush painfully against his leg in the confined space, and he strains just a little more to get enough angle to barely brush against the coins.

"Ow."

He extracts his hand again, his shoulder banging against the money box.

"Uh," Clearing his throat, he starts again, "Sarah. Could you-"

He indicates his pocket.

"You know... I've got some change..."

She lifts her hands, "Oh yeah, sure-"

Chuck tries not to squirm as she reaches for him.

"HA!"

Sarah freezes.

"Sorry, ticklish."

He can feel her hand sliding into his pocket, only a fabric's width between their skin, the hard unyielding material of the jeans making Sarah's extraction of the treasure even more difficult.

A furious banging on the window makes both of them turn around. Chuck's breath fogs up the glass, impairing the face of their intruder.

It's so isolated in the box that they can barely hear what the woman is shouting about outside, shaking her head and pointing at them, her other hand firmly clasped over her young daughter's eyes.

Sarah freezes, mortified. The view from where the spectator was wasn't terribly conducive to any less innocent assumptions of what was going on.

When the lady huffs one more time, throwing her hands into the air, Chuck turns back to her with a laugh, trying to shrug it off. She just tries to hide her embarrassment, concentrating on her task.

Finally pulling the money out, Sarah makes a huge show of counting the individual pieces, trying to ignore the heat in her cheeks, her head ducked out of his sight.

"You're short."

Without another thought, Chuck hits the change slot of the machine hard, and after a little tinkling noise, the exact amount needed rolls out to clatter noisily onto the metal plate.

"Perfect."

* * *

It works. I swear. Slam the part above the coin box and loose change falls out. Most of the time :)

By the way, is it even possible for Sarah to be graduating? There's a glitch in my timeline I think... and yep, I know, my tenses are all messed up.

Was going for subtle, hope you people were perceptive enough to read between the lines! And yes, they seems very immature for university students, but... come on, they should lighten up a bit! Plus, Sarah's not involved with the CIA so it's not too odd.


End file.
